Slow blend door

[Ourobos]

My 03 has good heat. It's odd though, in the early morning if I flip the heat on, it only works on defrost until the car warms up. It's like it needs to warm the blend door up to open to vent or floor.. I can't imagine this is normal. I can live with it, it only takes 5 minutes or so, but what can cause this typically, and is there an easy (no dash removal) solution to it?

[Jeffonebuck]

Sounds like you need to change out the o-rings in your EATC,, thirty minute job !,,,,,there are quite a few threads on repair,,,here is one,,,http://www.mercurymarauder.net/forum...ad.php?t=80673


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[fastblackmerc]

Not the o-rings. If it was the air would always come out the defrost.

[fastblackmerc]

My 03 has good heat. It's odd though, in the early morning if I flip the heat on, it only works on defrost until the car warms up. It's like it needs to warm the blend door up to open to vent or floor.. I can't imagine this is normal. I can live with it, it only takes 5 minutes or so, but what can cause this typically, and is there an easy (no dash removal) solution to it?

It's probably working as designed.

And no there is no way to speed up the blend door.

[Ourobos]

It's probably working as designed.

And no there is no way to speed up the blend door.

I'm kinda thinking that too, I've just never owned a vehicle that took 'time' to actuate the blend door.. My AC works perfect out the vents right off the bat.. Does yours / anyone else's take a bit for the heat to hit the right spot?

[larryo340]

Does this happen when set to automatic only?

If yes that's the automatic temperature control not allowing heat to come out until the engine coolant reaches its preset temperature. Try pressing the floor button right off the bat to see if it blows on the floor ....I'll bet it does.

[Ourobos]

Not sure if it does it on automatic, I know it does it when I set it to floor or vent manually though.

[mp-rdp]

I had similar symptoms with my climate control, but with both A/C and heat. I'd start the car and turn on either function, and the air would blow out defrost only, or defrost and floor, or a bit of defrost/floor/front vent at the same time. But if I switched between A/C and heat functions, though, the air would eventually go to where it was designed to go. Very aggravating.

Another symptom was the small door near the glove compartment, associated with Max A/C and keeping cabin air circulating in the vehicle. The door would be very slow to close after selecting Max A/C, and only with high fan speed. (You can hear the door close via that vacuum whine sound... in my case, it would creak and creak and creak, then finally go and close).

Also, I wouldn't always hear the vacuum whine sounds after turning the car on (hear example) and off (hear example).

I read about these issues on this site and realized the EATC was the likely culprit. Many have changed the o-rings and have reported success.

Given time and skill constraints, I bit the bullet and had my mechanic put in a brand-new EATC (Ouch! Six bills for the part, and on the condition that the old EATC is given back to Ford!!).

After the installation, though, all the symptoms described above disappeared and all functions work normally, and instantly. Amazing the difference.

[fastblackmerc]

Why return it to Ford? You know it was just thrown in the trash.

[mp-rdp]

There was a $100 core credit if the old part was returned after the sale. Was surprised to find out how common this practice is among automakers and their dealerships.

[fastblackmerc]

There was a $100 core credit if the old part wasn't returned after the sale. Was surprised to find out how common this practice is among automakers and their dealerships.

Very unusual for Ford to do that. Might have gotten a remaned unit and had to return a core.